My commentary on Shroud of Turin related matters. I am an Australian evangelical Christian in my 70s. I am persuaded by the evidence that the Shroud of Turin is the burial sheet of Jesus Christ and bears His crucified and resurrected image.

cloth to be preserved for future generations. Reecy Aresty, President and CEO of Christ on the Shroud, Inc., is proud to announce the creation of the Shroud of Turin Preservation Society. Aresty expects his new website, ChristOnTheShroud.com, to generate sufficient revenues to help preserve the Shroud for future generations. The Shroud, believed by millions to be the cloth that covered Jesus Christ's crucified body when he was laid in his tomb, remains the most controversial and emotional ambiguity in history. A noted collector of ancient Roman silver coins and medieval documents, Aresty is making unique and exceedingly rare photographs of this ancient relic available to all. ... Reecy is available for media interviews and welcomes the opportunity to share his intriguing photos and his role in the greatest story ever told. ... "Many see the face of Jesus: Boca Raton man creates society to help preserve Shroud of Turin, Boca Raton News December 25th, 2007, Dale M. King ...The Shroud of Turin is a mystical, enigmatic and controversial piece of linen. Millions believe it to be the cloth that covered Jesus Christ's crucified body when he was laid in his tomb. Others feel it's a forgery created during the Middle Ages when organized religion was in turmoil. Still, few can argue that the image does not resemble the visage of a person physically traumatized in a manner consistent with crucifixion. The shroud is kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. ... Coincidentally, Aresty is Jewish. But he noted that virtually all religions perceive Jesus Christ as a major religious figure, if not a savior, then perhaps a prophet. He feels the cloth is of interest to all. ... [That Aresty, who like Barrie Schwortz, is Jewish, shows that one can believe in the authenticity of the Shroud, on the basis of the scientific and historical evidence, without being a Christian.]

News, Turin, Dec. 20, 2007 ... Cardinal Severino Poletto of Turin, Italy, does not plan to organize a public display of the Shroud of Turin in 2011, the KAI news agency reports. The Shroud, which is carefully conserved in Turin, is rarely available for public viewing; it was displayed only 5 times during the 20th century. In the latest regular public showing, more than 2.4 million pilgrims views the Shroud between April and August 1998. The Turin archdiocese organized a special showing for the Jubilee year, and another 1 million people attended that display between August and October 2000. Some observers had speculated that the archdiocese would put the Shroud on exhibit in 2011, the year that marks the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. But Cardinal Poletto has reportedly rebuffed those suggestions, citing his desire not to mix religion and politics. There are no current plans to put the Shroud of Turin on public display before the year 2025. [Further confirmation of the story, "Public expo of Holy Shroud a fabrication, says Archbishop of Turin," in November's Shroud News. This is disappointing for me personally, as I will be 79 in 2025! But if the Shroud's pollen is radiocarbon-dated and its non-European pollen, like Gundelia tournefortii, dates from the 1st-6th century AD, then any plans to exhibit the Shroud later might be brought forward?]

PS: I only have two Shroud `tagline' quotes that I scanned in December, and have not already posted.

They were from the last chapter, "The Corporal Passion of Jesus Christ: A Meditation," of a classic book on the Shroud, "A Doctor at Calvary" (1953), by the late Dr. Pierre Barbet, Chief Surgeon and Professor of Anatomy at St. Joseph's Hospital in Paris. Dr. Barbet was a pioneer in establishing the forensic accuracy of the image on the Shroud. I had sent those two quotes to a Christian friend, with my comments:

Thinking about the Shroud of Turin has drawn me closer to the Lord. If it is Jesus' burial cloth, then the suffering He endured (for my sake) is much worse than depicted in Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. Dr Pierre Barbet, who first investigated in depth the forensic pathology aspects of the Shroud victim's wounds, despite him being an army surgeon in France during World War II and thereafter a surgeon at a major Paris hospital, in the end had to stop thinking about the Shroud victim's sufferings because he found he was increasingly sharing in those sufferings.

On thinking about this again, the following verses occurred to me (my emphasis bold):

Luke 9:23: "Then he said to them all: `If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'"

Philippians 2:5-8: "... Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!"

Acts 2:23: "This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross."

Revelation 13:8: "... [Jesus] the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world."

Hebrews 2:3: "how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?"

"Besides, when a surgeon has meditated on the sufferings of the Passion, when he has worked out its timing and its physiological circumstances, when he has methodically set himself to reconstruct all the stages of that martyrdom of a night and a day, he can, more than the most eloquent preacher, more than the most saintly ascetics (apart from those to whom was granted a direct vision, and who were overwhelmed by it), as it were share in the sufferings of Christ. I can assure you of a dreadful thing, I have reached a point when I no longer dare to think of them. No doubt this is cowardice, but I hold that one must either have heroic virtue or else fail to understand; that one must either be a saint or else irresponsible, in order to do the Way of the Cross. I no longer can." (Barbet, P., "A Doctor at Calvary," [1953], Image Books: Garden City NY, Reprinted, 1963, p.187. Emphasis original).

"And now, reader, let us thank God Who has given me the strength to write this to the end, though not without tears! All these horrible pains that we have lived in Him, were foreseen by Him all through His life; He premeditated them and willed them, out of His love, so that He might redeem us from our sins. ... He directed the whole of His passion, without avoiding one torture, accepting the physiological consequences, without being dominated by them. He died when and how and because He willed it. ... O Jesus, You Who had no pity on Yourself, You Who are God, have pity on me who am a sinner." (Barbet, 1953, pp.206-207. Emphasis original)

My policies

Comments are moderated. Those I consider off-topic, offensive or sub-standard will not appear. Except that comments under my latest post can be on any Shroud-related topic without being off-topic. I reserve the right to respond to any comment as a separate blog post.

Debates After over a decade (1994-2005) debating creation/ evolution/ design on Internet discussion groups, I concluded that Internet debates were largely a waste of time, so I ceased debating and started blogging. Therefore I normally allow only one comment per individual under each one of my posts.

Private messages I receive on Shroud of Turin related topics, I reserve the right to respond publicly via this blog, quoting the message or email, minus the senders' personal identifying information, unless that is self-evident.